Gazelles On Crack

As always, the recap comes first. I had an ambitious week planned (perhaps channeling my training partner!), and I think I did pretty damn good. There was really only one major fail, and while it was MAJOR, I have had 24 hours to come up with excuses & rationalizations, and thus, feel much better now.

Goals – 2/22 – 2/28

Monday: swim + hike – half SUCCESS! I did not swim, because the pool was closed. I feel okay about this.

Tuesday: weights + speed work w/ the Ambitious One – SUCCESS! I both lifted weights AND did my first track workout since last August. WOO!

Wednesday: Forest Park birthday run + bloody marys (w/ Mr. Pi) – SUCCESS! I did a 7 mile trail run AND had bloody marys (that was the hard part, for REAL!)

Thursday: weights + swim – SUCCESS! I lifted weights & did 1200 yards in the pool.

Friday: tempo run – I did Saturday’s bike workout on Friday, so I count this as a SUCCESS!

Saturday: weights + bike – I did Friday’s tempo run on Saturday, AND I shoveled compost for almost 2 hours, which is an effective upper body strength workout, so this is also SUCCESS!

Sunday: long run – 14 miles. - MAJOR FAIL! I am not entirely sure what happened here. My theories: 1) Before yesterday morning, I had completed 17 workouts in 17 days (some days were doubles). Perhaps my body just isn’t there yet; 2) On my birthday week, I was terrible at water intake, and think I’m probably a little on the dehydrated side; and/or 3) I am probably dying of an unknown wasting disease. I’m leaning towards a combo of options 1 & 2, but didn’t want to leave out option 3, just in case.

Goal: 4 runs, 3 weights, 2 swim, 1 bike = 1 fantastic birthday vacation week!
Actual: 3 runs, 3 weights + composting, 1 swim, 1 bike = 1 super fantastic birthday vacation week!

Goals – 3/1 – 3/7

Monday: swim

Tuesday: 5 miler with the Ambitious One and Running Stories.

Wednesday: swim + track workout

Thursday: AM weights; PM being brave & going to a networking event

Friday: trail run

Saturday: weights + bike

Sunday: long run – 14-15 miles.

Goal: 4 runs, 2 weights, 2 swim, 1 bike

I just finished up my homework for today & was browsing through my Google Reader when I saw that I had won the Gorgeous Blogger Award from my friend & workout buddy the Ambitious One!

Yay! I feel so fancy now!

So – the rules apparently are that I don’t get to just accept my award & sign off. I also I’m have to list 6 things about myself (and then tag six new gorgeous bloggers). So – six random things about me:

1. When I was younger, I collected unicorns. Seriously. I went through a really, really girly phase. The walls in my bedroom were painted LAVENDER and I had a unicorn clock, unicorn calendar, unicorn posters, stuffed unicorns, ceramic unicorns, unicorn suncatchers, unicorn candles, and, embarrassingly enough, a unicorn shirt. When I went to get my first tattoo, I really, really wanted a unicorn, but the only tattoo parlor in the town in which I lived at the time “didn’t do animals” (or anything original AT ALL), and sometimes I feel like I should send them a thank you note for being such a shitty tattoo parlor and saving me from having a unicorn on my leg. Now, I have only one unicorn – a tiny 3 inch tall ceramic one that I keep by my bed to symbolize my continuing belief that there is magic in this world if you only know where to look for it. (And, to tell you the truth, one of my planned tattoos will have a unicorn, just not the fantastical rainbowy pastel one of my youth.)
2. I am a terrible housekeeper. My house is not clean enough for random drop-in guests. It takes me a week of hard work to make it clean enough. It’s not that I’m dirty…I just hate cleaning. It’s such a time suck. And, I’m pretty messy at home. At work – my desk is almost always spotless, but at home, stuff just piles up. I wish I were better, but I’m not. And as soon as the architect is employed full-time again, we will be hiring someone to come make our house clean. So that I can spontaneously invite people over, which I would love to do.
3. I just asked the architect for help with this “six random things” task, and he said, “you never finish the last sip of coffee. EVER.” Which is true. The architect likes to pretend it’s because I think that the last 1/4″ of coffee in the mug is where the government keeps its mind-reading chips, but it’s really because by the time I have that little coffee left, it’s already gone cold, and I hate cold coffee. The only coffee that ever gets 100% finished is vanilla lattes. Yum!
4. I hate driving over very high bridges. It doesn’t matter what’s under them, and I don’t mind riding my bike or running over them (much), but driving over them makes me super uncomfortable. Mostly because I’m afraid of losing control of my car & careening over the edge & dying. If it’s a low bridge, I will not hit the water as hard & may have a chance to get out. If I’m on a high bridge, but not going very fast (i.e. just running), I will likely not lose control & vault over the edge (that would be weird). However, since I live in Portland, i.e. city of bridges, I pretty much just suck it up & deal with it. Otherwise I’d never get anywhere! (I do tend to avoid driving over the Fremont Bridge, though, especially on the top deck. But, I’ve heard that the man who designed the Fremont Bridge also avoids driving over it, due to some engineering issues, so I feel that it’s a wise choice.)
5. I talk to plants. Every day that its nice, I go outside & talk to everything that’s growing (that I like – I pretty much give the laurel hedge & the holly tree the cold shoulder). Today, I even kissed my lilac buds (and no, that’s not a euphemism for anything). Some things need more encouragement than others, but I think that’s one of the reasons my garden is so awesome – everything feels loved.
6. I have an extreme appreciation of the macabre (some would even say the morbid). I love cemeteries. I have cemetery photos in my bedroom in fact – I find them restful. I love Stephen King, I would like nothing more than a human skull to decorate my (home) desk, and freaky/creepy stuff fascinates me. Fortunately, the architect is not creeped out by my occasional requests to “pull over – it’s a cemetery!” and even takes all the great cemetery photos that we have.

So – now to tag six more gorgeous bloggers (I’m trying to tag people that haven’t yet been tagged – but I think you’re ALL gorgeous).

1. My kick-ass neighbor Lori!

2. Ms. I have a blog that I never use Sarah! (now you almost have to update, right?)

3. The awesome Calyx Meredith – because I love reading about all her amazing accomplishments.

4. The always amusing & extremely inspiring Alfer Life Carrie.

5. One of my favorite SoCal bloggers of all time, the beautiful POM – I am so happy you’re blogging again. Perhaps you can send inspiration to your fellow nominee #2.

6. AND, because I think the word “gorgeous” tends to sway people towards selecting women, I also want to designate Carolina John. Not because he’s a woman, but because he’s a great blogger, is super generous, and is generally very amusing!

You are all pretty terrific, though! Thanks for reading.

I am on blissful day #5 of my 10 days of vacation. It was a very busy day!

After getting up at about 8:30 & drinking some coffee the architect had thoughtfully made for me, I made some pancakes (hey! it’s national pancake day!), did a lot of homework, and then hit the gym for a strength training session.

I have to say that I pretty much love my gym. The thing I love most (besides proximity) is that it has this computer generated strength-training program. Every time I go to the gym I say to the machine “give me my workout, bitch!” and it DOES!

I do a 10 minute cardio warmup, b/w 35-45 minutes of weights, and about 5 minutes of abs at the end. Then, I enter the number of reps I did for each set in the computer, and next time I come, it has a different workout for me. In the program that I chose (“strength building”, after I determined that the “toning & weight loss” program was for pansies), I’ll do two workouts in a row with the same focus (i.e. back focus, shoulders, chest, etc.). Today was day #2 of a leg focus. But, since I knew I was doing a track workout tonight, I didn’t want to go all out & ruin my legs for tonight. I do, however, HATE doing the low number of recommended reps. Because I may have issues. So – I compromised, and did the exact midpoint # of reps for each leg activity.

After getting stronger, I headed home for a quick bite and rinse before heading to the salon.

I entered with long brown hair (this is the only recent photo of me that even shows I have hair. that also isn’t ugly):

I left the salon a ginger midget. Or at least a relatively short woman with coppery red hair.

The architect likes the color. But thinks it’s too short (which isn’t surprising). I LOVE it, and think it will be so nice for spring  summer. The stylist not only cut about 8 inches off, she also thinned it a LOT. I think I lost about 5 lbs in 2 hours! (wouldn’t that be awesome?)

THEN, I came home and found the most awesome birthday gift that has ever existed:

(the little man tells me HOW TO DRESS! Because he cares!) (Thanks Mom! You rock!)

AND THEN (because that’s not enough for one day), came the reason for the post title (I had no idea I had so much to say when I started).

I did my first speed workout in over six months. Last August, I pulled my adductor muscle during a speed workout & ended up missing 2 long runs due to the need to recover. After that, I played it safe, and dumped all speed work, tempo runs & trail runs from the schedule.

BUT, I love the track, and tonight, I headed over to meet up with The Ambitious One for some 800s. I am so glad I was meeting her – it was cold & rainy, and I wouldn’t have done it on my own.

My plan was 1 mile warm/cool + 4×800 (with 1:30 RI) @ 8:30 pace (i.e. 5K pace minus 30 seconds). My half miles were a little long because Leo wasn’t notifying me when I was finishing my 800s. Mostly because it turns out I’d programmed my workout to be 1 mile warm/cool + 4×5 miles (instead of 0.5 miles). That would be a bit much, I think.

So – the results:

Mile 1 (warmup): 9:53 (RIDICULOUS! That is not a warmup pace for me, that is not much slower than tempo run pace)

800#1: 0.58 miles @4:43 (8:11 pace)

RI: 1:30

800#2: 0.56 miles @ 4:35 (8:12 pace)

RI: 1:30

800#3: 0.55 miles @ 4:41 (8:30 pace)

RI: 1:43

Cool: .59 miles @ 6:05 (10:20 pace) – this is fine for a cool down.

Overall: 3.56 miles @ 34:42 (9:44 pace)

I was aiming for 8:30-ish pace for my 800s, so I was definitely a little too fast on the 1st two, and I was out of steam for the 3rd one (which is why I skipped #4). I need to get better at pacing myself. I think I also need to stop putting in ‘goal paces’ in to my garmin, because all the beeping makes me angry!

I’m pretty happy with this as my 1st speed work in months, and am looking forward to doing more! I love the track!

After running, I took The Ambitious One out to dinner to thank her for being the best swim coach in all the land!

Now: Olympics & relaxing with the architect & the cats.  Good times!

I have thought a LOT about whether or not I wanted to post the recap for the last week. I think I will, but it makes me a little sad. Last week was intense. I had five project due in three days at work, plus it was the last week of my current class – and that is just a lot of stuff. There was also the brief period of time when I was possessed by sloth demons, but y’all – I was TIRED! And my feet were such a mess – blood blisters everywhere.

SO – the recap. And please be nice & don’t comment about how it was a mess of fail, please.

Goals – 2/15 – 2/21

Monday: weights + trainer (no work tomorrow, so I should hit this!) – FAIL! seriously, I didn’t even have to go to work, and I still failed. LAZY (also school work).

Tuesday: Terwilliger run (4.2 miles w/ the Ambitious One) – SUCCESS!

Wednesday: swim + track workout – half SUCCESS! I swam, but due to the mess that was my feet, I skipped the run. I did walk a mile after the swim, though – does that count for anything?

Thursday: rest – FAIL! I made up Monday’s weight lifting day.

Friday: run and/or weights – I hope. – FAIL! There really was no excuse for this. I had 90% of my school work done before Friday, and I was up – but I kept putting off leaving the house until it was too late. This is the day of shame.

Saturday: hmmm….not sure what’s going to happen here. I’m volunteering out at Hagg Lake, and am planning on bringing my bike for a ride if I have time. Not sure though. – NEUTRAL – I did nothing. Unless you count standing for almost nine hours straight & directing parking, hanging up signs, unfolding space blankets and helping at the finisher’s chute. It wasn’t exercise, but you’d never guess by the way I felt when I was done! I ditched out a little early to get my 3 miler in, but by the time I got home, I was having weird nerve tingles in my feet & could barely keep my eyes open, so I opted to rest.

Sunday: long run – 13 miles. – SUCCESS! Such a great run! I LOVED it. I hit my 13 miles in just under an 11 minute pace, which is a little slower than I was aiming for, but I’ll take it! I did the 1st 6.5 miles in approx 1:14 (11:23 pace) and the last 6.5 in 1:09 (10:36 pace) for an overall of 2:22:52 (10:59 pace). Admittedly it’s a gentle uphill on the way in & down on the way back (Leo says starting elevation was about 240′ & my turnaround elevation was about 850; Leo is not good at elevation, though, so I’m not sure how accurate that is). It’s still a negative split, bitches! I pretty much loved this run. I brought my camera to take photos, but was so into the run I didn’t want to stop.

Goal: 3 runs, 2 weights, 1 swim, 1 bike

Actual: 2 runs, 1 weight, 1 swim, 0 bike. I made just over 50% of my planned workouts, and that averages out to FAIL! for the week. But, I did manage to not lose my mind AND I made my long run, so there’s that!

Goals – 2/22 – 2/28

Monday: swim + hike

Tuesday: weights + speed work w/ the Ambitious One

Wednesday: Forest Park birthday run + bloody marys (w/ Mr. Pi)

Thursday: weights + swim

Friday: tempo run

Saturday: weights + bike

Sunday: long run – 14 miles.

Goal: 4 runs, 3 weights, 2 swim, 1 bike = 1 fantastic birthday vacation week!

So – back at the end of last year, I decided on 10 goals for this year. A lot of times when I do that, I then promptly forget about said goals until the end of that year and don’t really accomplish all of them. So, I am doing periodic check-ins (every couple of months or so) just to see how I’m doing.

1. Run 1,000 miles  – I am definitely on track with this one. I should be at about 175 by the end of this month, and at about 400 after I finish the marathon. That leaves me over 7 months to run 600 miles, and I think I can do it! At the very least, I’ll be almost half way to  my goal of beating last year’s mileage by the time the marathon is over!
2. Go the entire year w/o triggering my automatic overdraft protection - So far, so good! Go me!
3. Read 52 (non-school, new) books – Hmmm…a little behind here! BUT, I am planning on playing catch up this vacation week! I’m not really worried about this one.
4. Throw out/donate/recycle at least one item per week.  - I am not doing well here. I started out strong – went through the pantry & got rid of expired disgusting foods & other things, but haven’t kept up the way I should. I should probably make a spreadsheet to track this!
5. Complete at least two triathlons – Well, it’s not triathlon season yet, so not a lot of headway being made here. EXCEPT that I am swimming, and I just found a new pool near work that I LOVE! Also, I am now the proud owner of a wetsuit, so I’m ready!
6. Half marathon PR. – Haven’t attempted yet. Attempt #1 will be in April.
7. A’s in all core classes. – Today was the last day of my first core class of the year, and unless the professor gives me zeros on the only 3 ungraded items outstanding, I will get an A (98% on my final paper! WOO!)
8. Be able to do 3 pull-ups in a row by December 31, 2010. – Not making a lot of headway here, either. I definitely need to start working on this more.
9. End the year ten pounds lighter than I started it. – Also not making a lot of headway here. So far I am approximately exactly the same weight as I was 1/1/10.
10. Do at least six volunteer activities. – I have completed one volunteer activity (planted trees with Friends of Trees) and will do another tomorrow (volunteering at the Hagg Lake Mud Run). I have also let the race director of the race I volunteered at last summer that I’m available if she needs me.  I would like to branch out from just race volunteering, too. I’m hoping that I can do some trail maintenance work with the Friends of Forest Park at some point. Any other volunteer suggestions?

So – overall, I think I’m on track with almost everything, but I definitely need to concentrate on the weight loss, the decluttering, and the pull-ups.

Did you make goals? How are those going for you?